Leigh Leopards coach likens Wakefield Trinity performance to ‘under-12s’ as Challenge Cup vow made

Leigh head coach Adrian Lam delivered a scathing review of the Leopards’ performance in their home defeat to Wakefield on Friday night: but vowed they will be better in the Challenge Cup against Trinity next weekend.

Lam’s side suffered one of their heaviest losses home soil since returning to Super League in 2023 against newly-promoted Wakefield, who left the Leopards’ Den with two competition points after a 40-14 success.

Trinity were only eight points to the good at half-time, but ran away with it in the second half, with their tries including two virtual full-lengthers from Tom Johnstone having intercepted passes from David Armstrong and Gareth O’Brien respectively.

In truth, Leigh never got going and are now winless in three league outings: following up a draw at Hull FC and a 30-0 defeat at Hull KR with Friday night’s dismal showing.

Leigh Leopards coach likens Wakefield Trinity performance to ‘under-12s’

Post-match, boss Lam pulled no punches with his assessment of the hosts’ performance in the defeat to Wakefield.

He said: “We made simple, basic mistakes with the ball. It was like under-12s stuff, and that’s just an attitude thing. I thought we got it right during the week, but clearly, we didn’t.

“I’m a little bit rattled, because I don’t know what we were doing out there.

“That’s two weeks in a row now where there’s just been no identity of us as a club, how we’ve trained pre-season or how we performed for the first four weeks.

“You saw it a little bit in Hull FC, a lot into Hull KR and then there’s some hangover here. We need to get to the bottom of it.

“It’s hard to watch. We’re at home in front of our fans and we’ve been awesome at the start of the season. It’s hard to know what has happened (for things to change) so quickly over the last two weeks.

“They started well, we’re having a bit of a blip now, and it’s their responsibility as well as mine to get us back playing confidently as a team.”

‘I think you’ll see a different Leigh team next week’

With Super League action shelved, Leigh now face another clash with Wakefield.

The Leopards travel to Belle Vue next Friday night in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, with the opportunity to reach the last-four of a competition they unforgettably won in 2023 having beaten Trinity en-route to Wembley.

Lam continued: “I just said in the dressing room then though that there’s no need to panic just yet.

“We’re very disappointed and frustrated, but the fix is quite easy, so we’ll see how we respond.

“We can take a lot from today in terms of what not to do. It’s crazy to say, but every try they scored today was very simple and on the back of our mistakes.

“If we can minimise our mistakes, it certainly takes them out of the game.

“I think you’ll see a different Leigh team next week, I hope so anyway. I’m confident we’ll be different than we were today.”